Assisted Housing and Changes in Household Composition

Changes in household composition are detrimental to children’s well-being and outcomes. Unaffordable or unstable housing may lead to changes in household composition. The author uses data from the 1995 through 2015 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the linked Assisted Housing Database to estimate the effect of receipt of project- or tenant-based housing assistance on changes in household composition. The author uses matching methods to compare changes in household composition among 182 surveyed households that received housing assistance between 1997 and 2009 versus 1,549 households that did not receive assistance. In general, households receiving assisted housing have a significantly lower likelihood of experiencing changes in household composition in the six years after receipt. Providing material resources through assisted housing is one way in which policymakers could feasibly intervene to encourage housing and household stability, with longer term benefits for individual, child, and family well-being and outcomes.